July 24th - Colonel Henry Moore received authority from the War Department to recruit a
regiment of infantry.

July 27th - Colonel Wesley Merritt with the Imperial Zouaves, an incomplete organization,
recruited under authority from War Department formed its nucleus.
The Forty-seventh New York, also known as the Washington
Grays, had been recruited, primarily in New York City and
Brooklyn,and a few men came from Dutchess County. between July and September 1861. Following its muster
into Federal service, the regiment was sent to the vicinity of
Washington, where it remained in camp for several months. Soon,
however, the New Yorkers were transferred to the South Carolina
coastal islands, recently captured by a Union expedition under
General Thomas W. Sherman.

September 14th - The State authorities gave it its numerical designation "47th", and it was, on
the same day, mustered into service with six hundred and ninety-nine officers and enlisted men, in
East New York.

September 19th - The Unit left the State for Annapolis, Maryland. And served in Viele's, 1st,
Brigade, T.W. Sherman's Expeditionary Corps.

February 7th / 22nd - Expedition into Central Florida.
At the time of the Florida expedition, the unit was considered a veteran regiment.

February 20th - Battle of Olustee (Ocean Pond), Florida
At Olustee the Forty-seventh,
along with the rest of Barton's Brigade, was in the heaviest of the fighting, losing 313 men, the highest total of
any Union regiment.

March 10th - Occupation of Palatka, Florida.

April - Duty at Jacksonville, Florida.

April 22nd / 28th - Moved to Gloucester Point, Va

May 4th / 28th - Butler's Operations on the South Side of the James River and against
Petersburg and Richmond, Va.